


Don't Let the Sun Go Down

by HopeCoppice



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Aziraphale had a job to do, Gen, In the Beginning, Major Garden Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 14:57:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20360431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeCoppice/pseuds/HopeCoppice
Summary: "Don't thank me, and don't let the sun go down on you here."Temptation can't be allowed to spread, so what happens to the Garden once the humans have left?





	Don't Let the Sun Go Down

_ “Here you go; flaming sword. Don’t thank me, and don’t let the sun go down on you here.” _

The demon seems to think he’s done the right thing, giving away the sword - but then, as a demon, surely he’s not a very credible source. His logic makes sense, though - Aziraphale _ is _ an angel, and angels _ do _always do the right thing. It follows, therefore, that Aziraphale has done the right thing. It’s a good point, even if he’s beginning to think that the demon only said it to tease him.

The demon, who had sheltered under his wing as rain rolled over them for the first time ever. He hadn’t seemed nearly as evil as Aziraphale had expected, actually. He’d very nearly warned him, nearly told him what God was going to do to the Garden, now that the humans were gone. An evil influence had got into it - the very demon he’d been speaking to - and now it had to be sealed, every gate bricked up so that nobody could ever get in again. The humans, and the angels guarding the other gates, and even Aziraphale himself, were to be out by nightfall, the walls closed up behind them and everything inside left to its fate. It was the only way to protect the world, God had told him as She’d sent him to chase off the humans.

After lying about the whereabouts of his sword, Aziraphale finds himself wondering _ why _ they had to be out by nightfall. It isn’t that he doesn’t _ want _ to obey, of course; it's only that God had seemed… tetchy. Tetchiness has never been a thing before, and he isn't sure how to describe it _ now_, but it is a thing and God is it. She had sounded rather cross, that was all, and the Garden…

The sun is beginning to get low in the sky when he finally makes his decision. He pulls a stone from the wall, then another, and squeezes himself through the gap.

“Crawly!” He’s trying to sound authoritative, uncaring, but he suspects he’s doing a terrible job of it. _ You’re an angel. Angels do the right thing. If you’re doing this, it’s right, isn’t it? _ “Demon!”

“Keep your hair on, angel. What’s the fusssssssssss?” The demon emerges from the trees, and Aziraphale doesn’t know whether to smile at him or shake him.

“You. Don’t let the sun go down on _ you _here, either.”

“You’re throwing me out, angel? And I thought we’d hit it off.” The hint of offence in his tone is clearly just for show, just to manipulate Aziraphale. Perhaps the demon deserves what he gets, after all - but that’s petty, and angels aren’t petty. At least, Aziraphale doesn’t think they are. He’s really only met the rest of the Host briefly, in passing, before being sent down to the Garden.

“That’s _ why _I’m throwing you out. I mean it, demon. You need to get out of here, now. The gates are all but sealed.”

“Then how exactly am I supposed to leave? And why? It sounds quite peaceful in here, especially if you do-gooders are sodding off.”

“Crawly, please.” It’s a last resort; to think that he, the Angel of the Eastern Gate, should be reduced to pleading with a mere demon! But it seems to get through to Crawly as nothing else has; he fixes Aziraphale with a dark, suspicious glare.

“What’s going to happen when the sun goes down?” But Aziraphale can only shake his head and hurry towards his gate, relieved when Crawly follows. He slips into snake form as they near the hole in the wall, slithering through with little effort. Aziraphale has more difficulty; he almost yelps as a slender hand grabs his arm and helps him through, but then he looks up to find that the yellow-eyed demon has resumed his humanoid form.

“Easy, there, angel. Can you manage the bricks?”

“I can. Of course I can, I’m a Principality. Besides, I did it before.”

“Did you, now?” The demon has that look on his face again, as if Aziraphale’s just said something remarkable and delicious. Oh, dear. Aziraphale does hope the demon isn’t going to eat him, after all of this.

“Crawly, I mean it. Be _ gone_, foul fiend.”

“You say the nicest things.” But when Aziraphale turns from placing the last stone back into the wall - just in time, as the sun begins to dip below the horizon - Crawly is gone, and it’s time Aziraphale made tracks as well.

When the last ray of light is gone, Aziraphale dares to turn back towards his former post - but the Garden is gone. In its place, between the familiar walls, a terrible pillar of fire reaches up into the sky, consuming everything Aziraphale has ever known of Earth. All those plants, all those creatures… _ It must all be destroyed, before the evil can spread_, God had said.

Aziraphale thinks, for a guilty moment, of black wings and golden eyes, of the footprints in the sand that he’s discreetly obliterating as he walks.

_ “You’re an angel. I don’t think you _ can _ do the wrong thing.” _

He hopes, with all his heart, that the demon is right about that.


End file.
